Fishing signal



J- J. KNIFFER FISHING SIGNAL Feb. '10, 1953 Filed April 11. 1950 ATTORNEYS Fatented Feb. 10, 1953 UNITED STATES rATsNT OFFICE FISHING SIGNAL James J. Knifier, Davenport, Iowa Application April 11, 1950, Serial No. 155,242

3 Claims.

My invention relates to an improvement in signalling apparatus for use of anglers by which the pull upon a fishline when the bait is seized by a fish, will cause an electric lamp to light and remain lighted until reset by the user.

lhe objects of my invention are to provide an extremely simple and economically constructed means for connecting an electric battery and a small lamp in circuit whereby the lamp will light when a fish seizes the bait and will remain lighted although thefish ceases to put any pull upon the fishline; to provide such a means which cannot be affected or interfered with by the movements of the fish after the connection has been made and to provide such means of superior simplicity, reliability and economy of manufacture.

I accomplish these objects by the means shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my apparatus;

Figure 2 is a plan view with the lamp omitted;

Figure 3 is a similar View, but without the fishline;

Figure 4 is a side elevation showing an alternate form of socket for the lamp;

Figure 5 is a side elevation of an alternate form for connecting the lamp socket and battery.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

My apparatus includes a battery i which may be of any for-m in common use, such as a dry cell battery.

In series with a lateral terminal 2 of the bat tery is a resilient lamp holder or bracket 4 of suitable metal, one end of which is held in place by a nut 3 and which has a socket 6 formed upon its other end to receive and hold the lamp 7.

A spacer iii of plastic or other suitable nonconductive material, is interposed between the terminal of the lamp bulb and the adjacent terminal 8 of the battery.

The spacer l0 may be of any desired shape, but I prefer to form it in either circular or oval form. A hole i l is provided near one edge of the spacer in which a bight of the fishline I2 is secured.

The fishline i2 may be attached to a pole in the usual way or may be a throw line as desired. The inner end l3 of the fishline is securely tied or otherwise fastened to a stake 14 which may be driven into the ground near the waters edge.

The bracket 4 is formed of resilient metal arranged to exert downward pressure upon the lamp to cause the lamp terminal to connect with the battery terminal 8 whenever the spacer it has been removed.

In Figure 1 I show the bracket 4 fastened to the terminal 2 near the outer edge of the battery. The bracket 4 may be either in the shape of a fiat strip of metal with threads pressed in the head 6 to accommodate the threaded end of the lamp or it may be in the form of a' single wire 5 as shown in Figure 4, with the inner ends of the wire wound around the head of the lamp 1 so as to form threads corresponding to the threads at B.

The spacer Ill may be of anydesired thickness and the position of it may be varied by tightening or loosening the knurled nut 9 which is threaded upon the terminal of the battery.

In Figure 5 I have shown the bracket it and lamp 7 in a reversed position from that shown in Figure 4. In this reversed position, the bracket 4 is rigidly mounted upon the central terminal 8, and the socket extends over the lateral terinal 2 while the spacer I0 is inserted between the terminal 2 or the nut 3 and the terminal at the lower end of the lamp.

In the operation of this apparatus, the stake H. is driven into the ground and one end 53 of the fishline tied to it. A bight of the fishline is then secured through the hole H in the spacer H) as shown in Figure 2 and the free end E2 of the fishline carrying the hook and bait is thrown into the water.

The pressure of the opposite terminals upon the spacer it is made light enough so that the pull of a fish upon the line I2 will readil pull the spacer out from between the terminals and the spring bracket 4 will then cause the lamp terminal to contact the battery terminal under it and to remain in contact until the spacer is replaced, thereby lighting the lamp.

This avoids the diiiiculty which arises in the form of signal apparatus in which the current is only fed to the lamp while the pull is being exerted upon the fishline by the fish.

It also avoids the difliculty which arises i apparatus where a wire or a lever arm is used to contact the wires of the electric circuit in order to close th circuit. In that form of apparatus, the arm does not make a large enough contact nor a firm enough contact with the current carrying wires to insure a good connection. Likewise the connection may be interfered with by dust or grease or even by arcing.

In my apparatus the spacer of plastic material may have its rear edge beveled so that the lamp only has to be moved an extremely short distance to close the contact and it will close rapidly enough to prevent arcing. Furthermore, the

aeaaeeo spacer or separator is preferably made of plastic or other non-conductive material which will act as a wiper and wipe both the lower terminal of the lamp and the upper end of the adjacent battery terminal, thus insuring clean surfaces and providing perfect contact over a large enough area to insure proper transmission of the current.

Various modifications may be made in the form and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit of my invention and I do not limit claims to the precise forms shown in the drawings.

I claim:

'1. In a signal apparatus, a battery with positive and negative terminals, a resilient metal bracket mounted upon one of said terminals carrying a socket and arranged to hold an electric lamp with its lower terminal in contact with the other terminal of the battery, and a removable spacer of non-conductive material manually insertable between the terminal of the lamp and the adjacent terminal of the battery arranged to be held in place by the pressure of the lamp terminal thereon and with a line attached to the spacer whereby the spacer will be removed from between the terminals by a light pull on the line.

2. In a signal apparatus for anglers, a battery with positive and negative terminals, a resilient metal bracket mounted upon one of said terminals carrying a socket and arranged to hold an electric lamp with its lower terminal in contact with the other terminal of the battery, a removable spacer of non-conductive material insertable between the terminal of the lamp and the adjacent terminal of the battery, and a fishline united to the spacer whereby the spacer may be displaced when a fish takes the bait the resilient metal bracket being arranged to hold one of the lamp terminals in contact with one of the battery terminals continuously when the spacer has been removed from between them.

3. In a signal apparatus, a battery with positive and negative terminals, an electric lamp, resilient means for holding the lamp arranged to connect the lamp in circuit with the battery and to hold the lamp in circuit when the spacer hereafter mentioned has been removed, an easily removable non-conductor spacer interposed in the lamp and battery circuit between the lamp and battery, and a fishline attached to the spacer whereby it may be displaced when the bait is seized by a fish.

JAMES J. K NIFFER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,553,059 Abrams a Sept. 8, 1925 1,739,316 Koban r Dec. 10, 1929 2,190,791 Larson Feb. 20-, 1940 2,261,588 Kuhns -r May 21, 1940 

